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Tasty Tuesday: relax with boba ( bubble) tea

Life can sometimes feel like a hamster wheel…and you are the hamster. A never-ending wheel of setting goals in order to set other goals. Learn to crawl so you can learn to run so you can someday train for a 5K (not that I am). Learn to read so you can learn to write so you can write about what you read so that someday you can write an essay to get into college and after try to find a job so you can make more money in that job so you can save up that money and have a spouse and make 2.5 kids and save for their Ivy League education so that they can be your retirement plan and then…

Stop.

This is where bubble (boba) tea comes in. Everything can slow down for a moment when you drink your favorite flavor of iced goodness and enjoy the surprise of a little gummy niblet zipping up your straw. This is what makes boba tea so special: it is a multi-sensual, yet calming, experience. You will find yourself paying attention to your drink in a new kind of way, and you can enjoy the boba for what they are and not what they will be in the future.

Bubble tea is a popular Asian drink that generally takes the form of a milk based or fruit based sweet drink (iced or slushified), served in a clear glass with a giant straw with which to suck up the star of the drink, boba pearls. This concoction is called bubble tea, although it might surprise you to learn that bubble tea is named after the froth bubbles made from shaking (not stirring) the tea, and NOT from the very bubble- like boba pearls that cluster endearingly at the bottom of the drink.

Tapioca pearls have little flavor on their own. You can find packages of them for very cheap at Asian stores or specialty grocery stores. Traditional pearls take twenty minutes or so to boil and are a little too much work for me, so I always get the quick five minute kind.

Also don’t forget to pick up the giant straws you need to fit the boba through.

Tips:
– Boil four or five cups of water for a single 1/2 cup serving of boba (see your package directions)
– Stir boba once or twice while gently boiling
– Use 1/4 cup of the boiling water to make a strong black tea while you wait for boba to boil, then add about 6 oz of cold milk. Sweeten with sugar, honey or condensed milk to taste
– Do not overboil or it will become tapioca pudding
– Under boiling makes harder boba ( I.e. adjust boba to your liking!)
– Letting boba sit in a little sugar before adding to the drink gives them a delicate sweetness
– For best results, serve immediately as old boba become hard